Profiles of Members and a Fond Farewell - By Elana Bulman

Leslie O'Leary

Education
Leslie is studying chemistry and biochemistry. She is currently involved with a project synthesizing biorenewable, biodegradeable plastics, and has been working on Fusarium graminearum, a fungus which infects cereal crops, for the last year. She is a junior, and is considering a number of prospective graduate schools.

How she became interested in animal protection
In an effort to make the grade in her freshman composition class, Leslie decided to present her vegetarian professor with a final paper on vegetarianism and issues surrounding factory farming. During the project she learned about the horrors of factory farming for both the animals and the workers, as well as the huge impacts on the environment and human health.

Why she thinks animal protection is important
Leslie adamantly believes there is no excuse for this large scale animal abuse, that no creature deserves a life torture for the superficial benefit of another. She thinks the torture of animals in agriculture doesn't need to be happening, and it is fully in our power to reduce this injustice. To be more specific, she thinks it is fully within our purchasing power to end this cruelty.

How she got involved with CAA
Leslie learned about CAA at the annual Student Activities Fair, attended a meeting, and fell into the CAA trap!

How long he has been in CAA
She has volunteered for more than a year and a half.

Unny Nambudiripad

Education
Holds degrees in math and computer science

How he became interested in animal protection
At the end of traveling through India, his parents' native country, he became a vegetarian partly on a whim and partly following his cultural background. He then started thinking, reading, and talking about the ethics of eating animals and was convinced that becoming vegetarian is a good decision.

Why he thinks animal protection is important
Animals suffer, just like humans. Whatever reasons we may have to think that it's bad for humans to suffer should apply to animals.

How he got involved with CAA
In 1998, Unny was part of a group of several animal advocates who were discussing new and effective ways to push the movement. This group eventually became Compassionate Action for Animals.

How long he has been in CAA
On and off since its founding eight years ago.

Jason Ketola

Education
Jason graduated with a B.A. in philosophy and psychology in December 2005. He will attend Tufts University to pursue a masters in health communication this fall.

How he became interested in animal protection
After visiting the University's biomedical labs in high school, he became distressed by the way the research animals were treated and began to look into vegetarianism and animal rights.

Why he thinks animal protection is important
Animals deserve a lot better treatment than they're getting. It's important that the scale of the horrors motivate rather than paralyze us.

How he got involved with CAA
Jason got involved with the U of M chapter of CAA when it first started. He had previously been volunteering with the Student Organization for Animal Rights.

How long he has been in CAA
He has been involved for three years now.

Alice Battey

Education
Alice is a junior majoring in child psychology.

How she became interested in animal protection
She has been a vegetarian since she was 10, and she has since realized getting involved in animal protection is the only logical and ethical choice given her beliefs.

Why she thinks animal protection is important
While most people understand that their companion animals have feelings and can suffer, few people make the connection that other animals have the same feelings. However, they certainly do, and standing up for the rights of ALL animals is only fair.

How she got involved with CAA
She read about CAA on the Student Activities Office website and decided to start volunteering by helping to staff informational tables.

How long she has been in CAA
She has been volunteering since October 2005.

Donny Mansfield

Education
Donny is majoring in philosophy at the U of M.

How he became interested in animal protection
He took a class at that made him question the differences between non-human animals and humans. That made him realize that there weren't really any morally significant differences. Shortly after that he learned about factory farming and he got involved in the movement.

Why he thinks animal protection is important
Donny has many reasons: animals are treated so horribly in factory farms; raising them in such a way puts an incredible strain on the world's resources; millions of dollars are given to factory farms every year to subsidize meat. That is money that could go into health care or education; The list goes on...

How he got involved with CAA
The summer before he transferred to the U of M, he met Gil Schwartz and they talked a lot about animal rights on a camping trip. When he started his fall semester, Gil and Ben Acaso introduced Donny to CAA.

How long he has been in CAA
Since fall of 2004 - a little over a year and a half.

A Fond Farewell This Coming Fall

This coming fall, CAA will bid farewell to three volunteers who have been instrumental in making the group the major success that it is. Ramona Ilea has accepted a tenure-track position in the Philosophy Department of Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. Gregory Oschwald will attend Yale Law School where he hopes to study public interest and animal law. And, Dani Schwartzman will depart for Argentina where she will work with an animal rescue organization. CAA will miss them all dearly. Good luck Ramona, Greg, and Dani!